a. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to monitoring, configuration, and control of data storage systems and specifically to remote control of multiple storage systems on a network.
b. Description of the Background
Networked data storage systems are commonplace in today's computing environments. Data storage systems may range from a single server with a single disk drive to large arrays of disk drives with dedicated controllers. Many installations may have multiple arrays, each having a separate controller. In some systems, multiple servers may share multiple disk drive arrays, each having separate controllers.
In some environments, several data storage systems may be located in different geographical areas. Such an arrangement may be for load balancing, redundancy, or other reasons. In many cases, the full time availability of the data storage systems is a mission critical component of a company's business. Instant and immediate response to problems can be crucial to a company's business and, in some situations such as medical record storage, access to data may be a life or death issue.
It would be therefore advantageous to provide a system and method whereby data storage systems may be efficiently monitored and controlled remotely. It would be further advantageous if such a system were compatible with and interoperable with existing methods of monitoring and control of such data storage systems.